Methods and apparatus for automatically adding a media component to an established multimedia collaboration session

ABSTRACT

A multimedia collaboration system that facilitates more efficient, free-flowing collaboration sessions. In order to make addition of new participants, media components, and or network access device to a collaboration session more efficient, client devices associated with each participant can store endpoint address information that can be automatically obtained by the multimedia collaboration system. The endpoint address information can then be used to add the new participants, media components, and or network access device.

RELATED APPLICATION INFORMATION

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to U.S.Provisional Patent Application 60/445,778, entitled “Method andApparatus for Automatically Adding a Media Component to an EstablishedCollaboration Session,” filed Feb. 10, 2003, and is related to U.S.Utility patent application Ser. No. 10/676,899, entitled “System andArchitecture for a Multimedia Collaboration Session,” filed Sep. 30,2003, both of which are incorporated herein in their entirety as if setforth in full.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to the control of a multipartyconference session, and in particular, to adding new media components toan established multimedia collaboration session.

BACKGROUND

In the course of conducting activities involving multiple parties, aneed often arises for people to meet to share information, exchange dataor documents, discuss topics of mutual interest, or collaborate inpreparing various documents or other work product. It may not bedesirable, or possible, for all of the participants in a meeting to bein the same physical location at the same time, in which case meetingobjectives may be achieved using various communication equipment andnetworks as tools for facilitating remote collaboration in a multimediacollaboration session, such as a multiparty conference session. It canbe useful for such a session to include a variety of media types thatinclude the participants' voices, video images, shared documents, textmessages, drawings, computer screen images, etc.

Several systems exist for configuring various devices and networks intocollaboration sessions. For example, multimedia collaboration systemsrequire many components and resources such as server equipment,networking equipment, and media processing and distribution. Sessionparticipants may be distributed in a wide variety of locations, e.g., inthe same building, multiple buildings, across a city, across a country,or internationally. Thus, the communication links between participantsvary greatly in quality, bandwidth, and usage cost.

Conventional multimedia collaboration architectures can be divided intotwo basic architectures: central-server and peer-connected. In acentral-server architecture, all participant clients communicate with asingle server that performs control, routing, and media processingfunctions. The server is located at a point in the network topology thatis often not optimal for a given session's participants. In addition, acentral server architecture provides all media services from a singlepoint in the network, preventing separation of media services andfurther preventing location of specific media services at optimal pointsin the network. In a peer-connected architecture, participant clientscommunicate directly with one another.

There are several roles for participants in a collaboration session. Onerole can be that of a moderator or chair of the collaboration session. Amoderator can, for example, initiate and/or control the collaborationsession. Another role can be that of a presenter or speaker. Aparticipant who is in a presenter role can have the ability to makepresentations, e.g., in audio and/or video format, during thecollaboration session. Another role can be that of a viewer. Aparticipant who is in a viewing role can have the ability to reviewand/or hear the presentations made by whichever participant ispresenting at that time. A collaboration session can include one or moreparticipants, each of which can participate in any number of theseroles.

Privileges or permissions can be established for various participantsand/or roles for a collaboration session. Particular privileges orpermissions can be repeated or reused for the participants and/or rolesin successive collaboration sessions. The privileges can be referred toas rules as well. The privileges determine the activities and the mannerin which participants can participate in a collaboration session.

As discussed above, typically one of the participants in a collaborationsession is a moderator. The moderator can have different privileges thanthe other participants in the collaboration session. For example, themoderator can initiate and/or control the collaboration session. In somesystems, the moderator can grant permission to other participants in thesession to become presenters.

In some conventional collaboration sessions, various media types can beneeded for the session. Media types can be referred to alternatively asmedia components. Sometimes the media component needs may change duringa session. Other times, a need may arise during on ongoing session toadd a new media component. In one embodiment, the new media component tobe added may involve a separate network, such as the public switchedtelephone network (“PSTN”).

An example of an addition of a new media component is the addition of atelephone conference to an Internet-based data collaboration sessionthat is in progress. In some cases, a different device is used to accessthe separate network. Also, the separate network can use a differentaddressing scheme, and there is often no association or common storageof the two network addresses.

Another example of an addition of a new media component is the additionof a telephone-based audio conference to an ongoing multimediacollaboration session that does not include any audio component. Thus,new devices, such as telephones. that operate over a separate networkmust be added to the collaboration session. The telephone network usedto facilitate the telephone-based audio conference can be: (a) separatefrom the computer network, e.g., Internet; (b) uses separate accessdevices, e.g. desk telephones; and (c) uses a different addressingscheme, e.g. telephone numbers vs. IP addresses.

In some conventional collaboration systems, the addition of such aconference component requires that a list of endpoint addressesassociated with devices used to access the separate network, such astelephone numbers, be entered manually. In many cases, one endpointaddress is added for each participant to be added to the new conferencecomponent. The endpoint addressees can be transferred to a conferencingsubsystem that establishes a connection to the endpoint, e.g.,telephone, associated with each of the new endpoint addresses. Theconferencing subsystem can be configured to connect the endpoints intothe an existing collaboration session.

Some conventional collaboration systems, therefore, require eachparticipant to enter the participant's endpoint address for eachcollaboration session. Other systems require all endpoint addresses tobe entered by a single participant, such as a moderator or chair. Manualentry of such endpoint address information for each session introducesdelay in the setting up of a session and increases the potential formistakes in the entry of the information. Further, if endpoint addressesare to be entered by a single participant, that participant must know orobtain the addresses of all other participants, which can beinconvenient. Additionally, any endpoint address information that isstored in a central database or in one person's address book may becomeout-of-date and is difficult to update when any address changes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A multimedia collaboration system that facilitates more efficient,free-flowing collaboration sessions. In order to make addition of newparticipants, media components, and or network access device to acollaboration session more efficient, client devices associated witheach participant can store endpoint address information that can beautomatically obtained by the multimedia collaboration system. Theendpoint address information can then be used to add the newparticipants, media components, and or network access device.

These and other features, aspects, and embodiments of the inventions aredescribed below in the section entitled “Detailed Description of thePreferred Embodiments.”

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an embodiment of a system for acollaboration session.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an embodiment of a user profile accordingto the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary screen shot according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary screen shot according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary screen shot according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary screen shot according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary screen shot according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an exemplary screen shot according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Several embodiments are discussed in detail below. While specificimplementations are discussed in the context of a multiparty conferencesession, it should be understood that this is done for illustrationpurposes only. It will be apparent that the systems and methodsdescribed herein can be applied to any multimedia collaboration sessionor system.

The term “collaboration session” is meant to include any meeting inwhich several people or parties can communicate using data sent viaconnections established using shared electronic networks, i.e.,intranet, Internet, or the like. Such a meeting can also be referred toby various terms, including a conference, a multimedia conference, aconference session, a multimedia collaboration session, and a multipartyconference session.

Multimedia collaboration sessions provide a convenient, low-costsolution for allowing individuals from various geographic locations toconduct a meeting by having discussions and sharing documents, such asdrawings and slides, using common desktop devices such as personalcomputers and telephones. The distances between a local multimediaclient device and a remote multimedia client device can range fromadjacent desks to distant remote locations. Participants in acollaboration session can share and collaborate in the preparation ofdocuments stored on a particular user's device, such as a localcomputer, because the device can be the same device as, or networked to,the device used in the collaboration session.

The term “participant” includes any person who is connected to aparticular collaboration session and/or has the ability to communicateon a particular collaboration session or who receives a stream of datafrom a collaboration session. The data stream from a collaborationsession can include audio data and/or video data as well as varioustypes of media components such as presentation slides, video files,audio files, electronic documents, drawings, and instant messages.

The term “endpoint address” is used for any information that uniquelyidentifies a service, location, or device on a network or other system.The endpoint address information can be used to connect devices to aparticular device. Some examples of endpoint address information includean internet protocol (IP) address for a computer or client device, auniform resource locator (URL) for a website, and a telephone number.

A multimedia collaboration system configured in accordance with thesystems and methods described herein can be configured to facilitate thecollection of endpoint address information for each participant. Such amultimedia collaboration system can also be configured to automate thegathering of endpoint address information for a collaboration session.In one embodiment, for example, a multimedia collaboration system caninclude a client software application with a mechanism for a user toenter, view and/or edit endpoint address information. This endpointaddress information can then be made available to remote devices forpurposes of initiating connections. The endpoint address informationentered can be stored by the application. Accordingly, in suchembodiments, the information needs to be entered only once and can beeasily updated when it changes. The benefit is of course that theaddress information need only be entered once, and not every time a newmedia connection is established. Another benefit is each participant'sendpoint address information is maintained locally by each participantand is thus more likely to be up-to-date.

Collection of the endpoint address information can be handled in severalways. For example, in one embodiment, the collaboration system canautomate the retrieval of the endpoint address information uponreceiving a proper request. Once the endpoint information is retrieved,the information can then be forwarded to the requesting system or deviceusing any type of connection, such as a network connection. In analternative embodiment, endpoint address information for a participantcan be gathered into a bundle at the start of the meeting. The endpointaddress information can then be supplied to a conference service uponjoining the conference. In this embodiment, client software residing onthe client device associated with each participant can be configured tosend a package of endpoint address information at the onset of theconference session that associated services use when a new media type isadded.

Depending on the embodiment, endpoint address information for aplurality of endpoints associated with a participant can be stored atthe participant's client device. Each endpoint address can, for example,be associated with a different network, device or media type. Theautomatic retrieval and response mechanism can include a mechanism orprotocol to select the appropriate endpoint address information from theparticipant's client device based on a particular request.

In one embodiment, the endpoint address information can be structured asa list of addresses for a given participant and network, or device type.In such a case, if the initiation of a contact using one endpointaddress fails, other endpoint addresses in the list can be used toestablish the connection. For example, a list can be created thatcomprises a plurality of phone numbers, such as an office phone number,a mobile phone number, and a home phone number, all associated with thesame specific participant.

It can be appreciated that any type of search program, method orsoftware can be used to select among the endpoint addresses in aparticular list. For example, such a search can be conducted using thetime of day, the day of the week, any user preferences, and priorityordering. Thus, when structuring the list, each participant can berequested to provide further information by which to prioritize theinformation in the list.

A mechanism that can be used to detect and determine whether aconnection attempt has succeeded or failed can also be included in amultimedia collaboration system configured in accordance with thesystems and methods described herein. Any known mechanism or methodologycan be used, such as counting rings or asking a user to press a key todiscriminate between humans and answering machines.

Further, a participant can have different endpoint address informationstored on client devices at different locations. For example, home andoffice client software could have home and office telephone numbersstored, respectively. In fact, the entire profile for a particulardevice and/or location can differ even for the same user. i.e., theprofile information does not necessarily need to be user specific, butcan also be device and location specific. In this example, theconnection initiated via the separate network can use the particularendpoint address associated with the desired client software location.

The steps of collecting an endpoint address information from eachparticipant and subsequently establishing a connection to an endpointusing the collected endpoint address information can be performed in anytime relation manner with respect to each other. These steps can, forexample, be performed sequentially, overlapped to some degree, orperformed simultaneously, i.e., in parallel, for one or moreparticipants in a collaboration session. Simultaneous execution of thesesteps is, however, a much faster establishment of a connection to allparticipants, particularly in situations where device capabilities andnetwork bandwidth can support these steps.

A multimedia collaboration session can for example be hosted in amultimedia collaboration system, such as that described in related,co-pending U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 10/676,899, entitled“System and Architecture for a Multimedia Collaboration Session,” filedSep. 30, 2003. In such a system, a multimedia collaboration system canbe implemented using a collection of central servers, where each serverhandles a specific media type. Thus, when a participant wants to join aconference, he can access the conference using his client device andsupplying a conference ID. If a conference session associated with theconference ID exists, then a control channel can be established with theparticipant's client device and he can be added to the conferencesession. If such a conference session does not exist, then a newconference session can be created and the participant can be added tothe new conference session once a control channel is established.

Once a plurality of participants have joined the conference session,they can then engage in a multimedia collaboration session using thevarious features and functions made available by the multimediacollaboration system. For example, various media can be shared betweenparticipants in the session. Sharing media can comprise the centralserver that handles a specific media type establishing a media channelwith each participant so that the specific media type can be shared witheach participant.

Certain media type can, however, require a different network, or clientdevice. For example, when participants are sharing slides via a networkconnection, a participant or coordinator can determine that it isnecessary to add a telephone audio component to the session. Thus, amedia channel will need to be established with each participant'stelephone via a telephone network. A central audio conference server canbe configured to establish telephone connection with each participantusing telephone numbers acquired as part of the endpoint addressinformation obtained from each participant. In other words, thecollected telephone numbers can be sent to the central audio conferenceserver or bridge, which can be configured to use a “dial-out” mechanismto initiate a connection to the telephone of each participant.

Once a connection is made to a participant, that participant isconnected into a telephone conference. If all of the participants haveentered correct telephone information, then all of the participants'telephones or other communication devices are called almost immediatelyafter a request that a telephone conference component be added to thesession. Each participant is then in conference with the otherparticipants upon answering his telephone or other communication device.

In another embodiment, participants may wish to add a video component toa collaboration session. In one embodiment, a video server receivesendpoint address information for the client device used by eachparticipant to receive video. Video connections are then establishedwith each participants video client device via the video server.Alternatively, video streams can be sent between participant clientdevices, also referred to as peers, without a central server. In such anembodiment, each participant's client software can query the software ofthe other participants to determine the appropriate endpoint, network,and address information to use for a video connection. Thus, the presentinvention is not limited to any specific collaboration architecture, butapplies to central-server, peer-to-peer, or hybrid systems.

In one embodiment, a control mechanism for the system is located inclient software on each participant's client device. The controlmechanism allows the entering, storing and/or recalling upon a requestfrom a remote server telephone or other contact information.

An exemplary embodiment of a collaborative communication system 100configured in accordance with the systems and methods described hereinis illustrated in FIG. 1. Here, system 100 includes a conference system110 and several end points 120, 130, and 140. Conference system 120 canbe any type of conference system and can include any arrangement ofcomponents. In one implementation, conference system 120 can includeseveral relay servers, a presence service, a conference service and oneor more conference objects. Each of end points 120, 130 and 140 can beany type of communication device. For example, an end point can be atelephone or other communication device, a client device such as apersonal computer, a server, etc.

Some conventional conference systems allow the addition of participantsduring an existing conference session. For example, in a teleconference,a moderator can dial out to a particular participant to add thatparticipant to an existing session. When the moderator dials out to aparticular participant, the information that the moderator typicallyuses is the information that the moderator has in his or her possession.But this type of arrangement can be inefficient, since the moderator mayhave outdated information, thereby making the addition of participantsto an existing conference session difficult.

In a multimedia collaboration system configured in accordance with thesystems and methods described herein, however, a participant can enterendpoint address information into their own client device, and thisinformation can then automatically be obtained by the system anddistributed as required. Thus, accurate information is much more likely.In addition, hierarchies or priorities can be assigned to endpointinformation to further ensure that each participant is connected asrequired.

In one embodiment, each participant can fill out a profile that includesinformation about the participant. The profile can be retained forfuture use. For example, each participant's profile can be stored on theclient device of the particular participant. When a participant requeststo join a session, the join request can be broadcast to all participantsalready in the session. In one embodiment, each participant has thecapability to select some or all elements of his profile and contactinformation to be broadcast or published to the other participants inthe session. Thus, for example, a participant may control distributionof his mobile phone number. The broadcast information can then be usedto facilitate integrating the participant into the session andinitiating media connections of various types.

In certain embodiments, when a moderator or other participant in thesession clicks a button or other joining acknowledgment, thenparticipants are added to the session.

An exemplary embodiment of a profile or form that a participant can fillout in accordance with the systems and methods described herein isillustrated in FIG. 2. It can be appreciated that the fields discussedbelow with respect to the illustrated profile are merely exemplary innature and that any information can be collected from participants for aparticular conference session. The information requested fromparticipants can vary based on the type of session as well as many otherfactors.

In one embodiment, a user can select a profile when first joining as aparticipant in a collaboration session. In another embodiment, severalprofile formats can be associated with a specific participant. Based oncharacteristics of the session, such as particular type of session or,who will be attending and/or what group is participating in the session,the participant can select the desired profile for purposes of thatcollaboration session. In one embodiment, the participant can identify aprofile that would be a default profile.

Profile 200 of FIG. 2, which can be presented by means of a userinterface on the participant's client device, can be designed to collectinformation from participants to then generate a profile that can beused by a collaboration system configured in accordance with the systemsand methods described herein. In the illustrated embodiment, profile 200includes an identification section 210. In this example, identificationsection 210 includes a customer name field 212 and a company name field214. The customer name field 212 and the company name 214 can beconfigured to allow a participant to input the relevant identificationinformation in the particular fields. In alternative embodiments,additional fields such as group name, title, project team, etc. can beincluded in the identification section 210. In alternative embodiments,any combination of those fields can be used.

Profile 200 can also include a home phone field 216, a work phone field218, a mobile phone field 220 and an alternative phone field 222. In theillustrated embodiment, each of the phone fields 216, 218, 220 and 222can be configured to receive information input by a participant, such asby typing. In alternative embodiments, the participant can use a dropdown window next to each of the phone fields to designate the particularphone number being entered. For example, if a participant has two workphones, then the profile 200 can include a drop down window next to anyof the other phone fields to allow a user to input two work phonenumbers at which the participant can be contacted.

In one embodiment, the profile 200 includes a series of defaultcheckboxes 224 that correspond to the phone fields. The defaultcheckboxes enable a participant who is filling out profile 200 to selectwhich of the phone numbers should be used as a default contact.

Profile 200 can also include a series of data share checkboxes 226 thatare associated with the phone fields 216, 218, 220 and 222. The datashare checkboxes 226 can be provided to enable a participant to electwhether particular phone numbers can be shared with differentparticipants in a session. In alternative embodiments, there may be datashare checkboxes associated with each field in profile 200. Thesecheckboxes can, for example, allow the participant to select whethereach piece of information added can be shared with other participants.

The sharing checkboxes described above simply indicate whether otherparticipants in the collaborative session are allowed to view theselected information while the session is in progress. In oneembodiment, profile 200 can also include an option for a participant,e.g. participant A, to allow other participants to save A's sharedinformation in a more persistent manner, e.g. in a file on the otherparticipant's client device. In the illustrated embodiment, the questionor prompt “Share my info in Vcard format?” is posed to the participantin a checkbox 228, which allows the participant to select whether suchsharing is permitted. In alternative embodiments, the format of profile200, the input fields, and the checkboxes can have any configurationdepending on the desires of the participants.

Client software on a client device can be configured to read theinformation that is entered by the participant in profile 200 and storethe information on the client device. In one embodiment, the informationcan be stored or saved in a Vcard format. The Vcard format allowsinformation to be readily exchanged between participants. It is similarto the common practice of handing out business cards to otherparticipants in a face to face meeting.

An exemplary method of adding an audio participant to an existingconference or collaboration session is discussed below. While specificsteps are discussed, it can be appreciated that in alternativeembodiments any number of and any combination of steps can be used.

In a multimedia collaboration session, an audio conference can, forexample, be initiated using an appropriate device or service, forexample the public switched telephone network (PSTN). In alternativeembodiments, any type of audio and/or video session can be initiated. Acontrol mechanism can be configured to command the PSTN audio device orservice to initiate calls to each participant at the appropriate phonenumbers associated with the participants. This command can be in anyparticular type of format. The control mechanism can also be configuredto automatically confirm that the correct participant answered at thenumber associated with that participant. In one embodiment, participantscan be requested to acknowledge or confirm that they are the properparticipant and/or that the session to which they are being added iscorrect.

Once confirmation of the correct participant is determined, thatparticipant can be joined into the session. In an alternativeembodiment, if the correct participant does not answer, then the controlmechanism or system can attempt to contact the participant at alternatephone numbers or devices as specified by the participant, e.g., via ahierarchy or priority associated with endpoint address informationobtained from the participant's client device.

In one embodiment, the control mechanism obtains contact information foreach participant to be added to a session. In one embodiment, obtainingcontact information includes the gathering or recalling at least onetelephone number associated with each of the participants in thesession. This gathering step can be accomplished by querying eachparticipant's client device to obtain information that has beenpreviously set up by the participant and stored on the client device. Itwill be appreciated that the collecting of information is not associatedwith the other steps discussed above for every conference session.

In one embodiment, the first person that tries to join a conferencemakes a request for a conference using some identification information,such as a conference identifier or ID. The conference ID can, forexample, be a series of numbers or letters or some combination of both.The conference request or inquiry can be made using software loaded onthe client device associated with the participant. The request travelsfrom the end point of the first person to, e.g., a presence service atthe relevant domain.

The request asks the presence service whether there is a conference thatexists with that ID and if so, whether the conference is not full. Thepresence service searches for such a conference object with thatconference ID, which would be located at a particular end point.Initially, if a conference ID has been assigned to a conference object,the conference object is found and in a state of rest until oneparticipant joins. If no such conference object is found, then therequest instructs the presence service to find a conference service andthen create a conference object. Once the conference object has beencreated, other participants can join the conference object.

The conference object in its rest state allows participants to enter,but does not allow any communications between participants until thesession is started. When the moderator joins the session, the moderatormakes the request to start the session.

Every participant in a conference session sends a request that thepresence service receives. Once one participant has been connected to aconference object, every participant thereafter receives a message backfrom the presence service identifying the address for the particularconference.

As discussed above, an end point address is any end point that can“talk” or “communicate.” Any media type that has a different address canbe referred to as an end point. In one example, an session initiationprotocol (SIP) phone can be used as an end point. In this example, agateway could be used with the SIP phone. This arrangement allows twocommunication devices to set up a session. The gateway translatesbetween messages understood by the SIP phone and another network, forexample, a message to invite a participant's phone to join the meeting.Other types of end points include a PSTN, a phone number and any othertype of media component. An alternative end point is a voice overinternet connection. Messages are typically sent to various end pointsto initiate a session.

As previously discussed, a conference can be started in response to arequest from a participant that asks the conference services to find aconference service that is available and not full. The reply to such arequest is the end point of a conference object. If no conference isavailable, then a conference object is created. The “I want to join”message or request can be sent with a set of phone numbers at which theparticipant can be contacted. These phone numbers are the same phonenumbers from the profile created by the participant prior to joining thesession. The conference object sends out the participant joining themessage to the other participants.

In one embodiment, a link is highlighted to dial the particularparticipant. The link is active only for a moderator or the joiningparticipant. In alternative embodiments, the link may be sent as part ofthe information to all participants informing that a new participant hasrequested to join the meeting. In this embodiment, participants arejoined to an existing multimedia conference at a one at a time basis.

The present invention allows a person or participant to be dialedwithout having to input a telephone number every time. The automaticavailability of information facilitates the joining of differentparticipants to different conferences at any time in any fashion.

In one embodiment, a dial button can be included that lists the phonenumbers that were supplied for a particular participant and in somecases may indicate whether a default phone number was provided. Themessage that is sent to the moderator has the option as to whether toclick the dial button.

In an alternative embodiment, a control mechanism may allow a “blastdial” of all participants at the same time. A blast dial is when acontrol mechanism dials everybody that is not currently connected to theconference session, but who has indicated that they would like to join.The relevant endpoint addresses can be collected prior to or during theblast dial operation. Typically, a moderator could be the participantwho initiates the blast dialing function.

While the description of the invention includes descriptions ofdifferent platforms in a collaboration system, or more of the platformscan be either co-located on a single system or device or located ondifferent devices. Also, while the addition of an audio component to asession is the focus of the above description, it can be appreciatedthat the same concepts and principles apply to the addition of a videoor an audio/video component to a session, or to any media type that maybe desirable to include in a collaboration session

An alternative embodiment of the present invention is now described. Inthis embodiment, when each participant joins the conference session, theparticipant supplies his or her contact information. The conferencesession may be a video conference, an audio conference, a dataconference or a combination of any of those conferences.

The conference system then provides a mechanism by which eachparticipant can “connect himself” into an “out of band” communicationchannel. An “out of band” communication channel is a communicationchannel that is outside of the channel on which conference messages andevents are distributed among conference participants. One example is anaudio conference where the audio data is carried over the switchedtelephone network.

In one implementation, when a participant joins the on-line conference,the participant supplies the telephone number of the phone at which theparticipant is to be dialed. The participant's client can extractdefault telephone number(s) from the participant's user profile(described previously), and allow the participant to accept thedefault(s), or enter a different telephone number for this conference.The online conferencing system then prompts the participant for adecision as to whether the participant wants the ÷out of band”conferencing system to dial him or her. For example, the conferencingsystem could cause a dialog box to open on the participant's screen.When the participant indicates yes, the conferencing system calls theparticipant at the appropriate telephone number.

Alternatively, the conferencing system could place a link or button onthe participant's interface that would enable the participant to selectthe option of dial himself. In either arrangement, the conferencingsystem according to the present invention allows each participant tocontrol the connection of that participant into the “out of band”channel. One benefit of the participant being able to do such action isto reduce the burden on the moderator. Another benefit is to increasethe likelihood that participants are successfully connected.

The above-described embodiments and examples are applicable to any typeof communication channel.

An exemplary screen shot according to the present invention isillustrated in FIG. 3. The illustrated user interface 300 includes anidentification section 310 that informs the viewer of the presentationbeing shown, in this example there is no presentation being shown, andthe current presenter, which in this example is no one at this time. Theuser interface 300 also includes a current presentation section 312 inwhich a currently displayed document or media element is displayed.

In one embodiment, the user interface 300 includes a control section316. Control section 316 can include any type and/or combination ofcontrol features. In the illustrated embodiment, the control section 316includes a video section 318. The video section can include a live videofeed of any participant in the session for which video information isbeing transmitted. In one example, the video feed for person 1, who hasjoined the session already, is shown.

The control section 316 can also include a “people in the meeting”section 320. This section 320 identifies who has joined the session. Inthis example, person 1 has joined the session. The control section 316also includes a “meeting tasks” section 322. This section 322 hasseveral activity links that can be chosen by a participant. The controlsection 316 can also include a “meeting features” section 324. Thissection 324 can include a variety of features, some of which areillustrated in FIG. 3.

Another exemplary embodiment of a user interface is illustrated in FIG.4. User interface 400 includes a “Select Contacts” window 410. Thiswindow 410 includes a people in the meeting section that identifieswhich participants have joined and some of the joined participantscontact information.

This window 410 also includes an input field 416 in which searchinformation can be input to locate information for a particular person.The window 410 also includes a contact category drop down window 418 anda contact listing window 420 in which a person can be highlighted orselected.

The window 410 also includes an email recipient location 414 in whichparticular addressees can be moved from the contact list. A send button424 is provided to enable an email to be sent.

In FIG. 5, the user interface 500 shows how the contact informationperson 3, who was selected in the window 410 in FIG. 4, is moved to theemail addressee window. 510. The participant can select the send button512.

In FIG. 6, the user interface 600 shows a pop-up email window 610 inwhich an invitation to join a collaboration session is provided. Themeeting organizer and the meeting specific information is automaticallyincluded in the email. In an alternative embodiment, the meetingspecific information is manually entered.

In FIG. 7, the user interface 700 shows a “calling invited participants”window 710. This window 710 includes information relating to theparticipant being contacted. In this example, the name, the number andthe status of the call are shown. In other examples, any combination ofinformation relating to the participant being called is shown. Thiswindow 710 also includes an option box 714 that can be selected to muteparticipants on entry.

In FIG. 8, user interface 800 illustrates a window that includes asection 810 in which particular persons can be added in order to becalled into a session. Information put in the input field 812 is used toselect the particular person in the addressee window 814. Theinformation for this person, when selected, is moved to window 810.

In alternative embodiments, any combination of features and arrangementof components can be provided on the user interfaces in accordance withthe present invention.

While certain embodiments of the inventions have been described above,it will be understood that the embodiments described are by way ofexample only. Accordingly, the inventions should not be limited based onthe described embodiments. Thus, the scope of the inventions describedherein should only be limited in light of the claims that follow whentaken in conjunction with the above description and accompanyingdrawings.

What is claimed is:
 1. A multimedia collaboration system forfacilitating a multimedia collaboration session between a plurality ofparticipants, comprising a plurality of client devices associated witheach of the plurality of participants, each of the plurality of clientdevices configured to store endpoint address information associated withan associated participant, the multimedia collaboration systemconfigured to: automatically obtain the endpoint address informationfrom each of the plurality of client devices; associate a plurality ofendpoint addresses associated with a participant of the plurality ofparticipants with a network and with a media type, wherein the endpointaddress is any end point that can communicate including a website, asession initiation protocol telephone, a telephone, a cellulartelephone, a personal digital assistant, and any other type of mediacomponent that can communicate; select an appropriate endpoint addressof the plurality of endpoint addresses assigned to the participant fromthe participant's client device in response to a request to join themultimedia collaboration session, the network and the media type, theplurality endpoint addresses being assigned priorities; andautomatically attempt to connect to at least one client device and anassociated endpoint at the selected end point address based on apriority assigned to the end point, wherein the endpoint addressinformation is automatically obtained at same time that the multimediacollaboration system automatically attempts to connect to the at leastone client device and the associated endpoint.
 2. The multimediacollaboration system of claim 1, wherein the multimedia collaborationsession comprises a plurality of media components, and wherein theendpoint address information is used to add a new media component to themultimedia collaboration session.
 3. The multimedia collaboration systemof claim 1, wherein the endpoint address information for eachparticipant comprises endpoint address information for a plurality ofendpoints.
 4. The multimedia collaboration system of claim 3, whereinpriority can be assigned to the plurality of endpoints for eachparticipant.
 5. The multimedia collaboration system of claim 3, whereina hierarchy can be assigned to the plurality of endpoints for eachparticipant.
 6. The multimedia collaboration system of claim 2, whereinthe new media component is an audio conferencing component.
 7. Themultimedia collaboration system of claim 6, wherein the addition of theaudio conferencing component includes the addition of telephonicconferencing via a telephonic network.
 8. The multimedia collaborationsystem of claim 7, wherein the multimedia collaboration session occursover a network that is separate from the telephonic network.
 9. Themultimedia collaboration system of claim 7, wherein the multimediacollaboration session occurs over one network and the added mediacomponent is associated with a second network.
 10. The multimediacollaboration system of claim 9, wherein the two networks use separateaccess devices.
 11. The multimedia collaboration system of claim 9,wherein the two networks use different addressing schemes.
 12. Themultimedia collaboration system of claim 2, wherein the multimediacollaboration system is further configured to facilitate the addition ofa new media component to the collaboration session by automaticallystoring the endpoint address information for each of the plurality ofparticipants as each participant joins the multimedia collaborationsession.
 13. The multimedia collaboration system of claim 2, wherein themultimedia collaboration system is further configured to facilitate theaddition of a new media component to the multimedia collaborationsession upon receipt of a query from a new participant.
 14. Themultimedia collaboration system of claim 2, wherein the multimediacollaboration system is configured to facilitate the addition of a newmedia component to the multimedia collaboration session upon receipt ofa query from an existing participant.
 15. The multimedia collaborationsystem of claim 1, wherein the endpoint address information comprises atelephone number.
 16. The multimedia collaboration system of claim 1,wherein the endpoint address information includes a list of addressesfor the associated participant.
 17. The multimedia collaboration systemof claim 16, wherein the list of addresses corresponds to multipleclient devices.
 18. The multimedia collaboration system of claim 16,wherein the multimedia collaboration system is further configured toautomatically attempt to connect via each of addresses in the list ofaddresses until it achieves a successful connection.
 19. The multimediacollaboration system of claim 18, wherein the endpoint addressinformation includes multiple phone numbers for the associatedparticipant.
 20. The multimedia collaboration system of claim 19,wherein the multimedia collaboration system is further configured toautomatically dial each of the multiple phone numbers until it achievesa successful audio connection.
 21. The multimedia collaboration systemof claim 1, wherein the multimedia collaboration system is furtherconfigured to enable each participant to edit the participant'sassociated endpoint address information using the participant'sassociated client device.
 22. The multimedia collaboration system ofclaim 1, wherein the endpoint address information comprises an internetprotocol address for a client device.
 23. The multimedia collaborationsystem of claim 1, wherein the multimedia collaboration system isfurther configured to distribute the endpoint address informationobtained to each participant.
 24. The multimedia collaboration system ofclaim 23, wherein the endpoint address information distributed by themultimedia collaboration system can be stored on each of theparticipant's associated client device.
 25. The multimedia collaborationsystem of claim 1, wherein endpoint address information is automaticallycollected from each client device when an associated participant joinsthe multimedia collaboration session using the client device.
 26. Themultimedia collaboration system of claim 2, wherein the new mediacomponent is a video stream component.
 27. The multimedia communicationsystem of claim 26, wherein the endpoint address information obtained bythe multimedia collaboration system can be distributed to client deviceassociated with participants that wish to share video streams, andwherein the client devices can use the endpoint address informationdistributed to the client device to exchange the video streams betweenthe client device.
 28. The multimedia collaboration system of claim 27,wherein the client devices sharing the video streams share the videostreams in a peer-to-manner using the distributed endpoint addressinformation.
 29. The multimedia collaboration system of claim 2, furthercomprising a plurality of central servers, wherein each of the pluralityof central servers is configured to handle a different media component.